The Rise of Australia

At this time, Germany was very high-spirited and had taken the initiative in this super war.

After taking control of all of Belgium, Germany divided its forces to attack the Netherlands and Luxembourg. On the other hand, it tried to penetrate deeply into Amiens alone and surrounded the British, French and Belgian troops west of Lille and Kortrijk.

According to data, there are at least 400,000 troops from the three countries staying in these areas, including 150,000 British troops and 200,000 French troops.

If these troops can be completely surrounded and captured, Germany's attack on France will be much easier, and the British and French troops will also lose a considerable part of their strength.

However, Britain and France naturally understand the disaster after being surrounded. As early as when Kortrijk was besieged, the British-French Joint Operations Command had already held an emergency meeting and determined the evacuation location for the 400,000 troops on the French-Belgian border, which was Dunkirk, the northernmost port in France.

Speaking of Dunkirk, the geographical location of this port city is quite important on the French-Belgian border.

As the northernmost city in France, Dunkirk is actually located at the rear of the entire Belgium and is also the best evacuation location for the British and French forces in Belgium.

More importantly, it is across the sea from the British city of Dover, and the straight-line distance between the two cities is only about 70 kilometers.

On June 29, the German army launched a full-scale offensive from Dunkirk to Lille.

As long as any city is captured, the British and French coalition's plan to retreat will be shattered, and these 400,000 troops will officially enter the encirclement of the German army.

At the beginning of the offensive, the German army's offensive was very smooth.

The elite German armored forces left Britain and France unable to resist, and even the French army's carefully deployed defense line in Lille fell short.

Although it is extremely difficult, Britain and France also understand the importance of guarding Lille.

Once Lille falls, not only Dunkirk will be in danger, but even cities like Calais and Amiens will face German attacks, and even Paris will be threatened.

While the British and French resisted resolutely in Lille, the British and French organized a large-scale retreat at Dunkirk.

In order to hold off the Germans and not arouse German suspicion, about 50,000 French troops will stay as bait to protect more British and French forces as they withdraw from Dunkirk to Britain.

This is also something that can't be helped. Counting on the Belgian army to stay behind was equivalent to handing over the hope of victory in the Dunkirk evacuation to Belgium.

Judging from the combat capabilities and attitudes of most of the Belgian army, this retreat will only fail.

In order to save more than 300,000 British and French troops, it was necessary to sacrifice more than 50,000 French troops.

As for why the British army is not at the rear? After all, this is the border between France and Belgium. If most of them are British troops, it will inevitably arouse the suspicion of the Germans.

In the planning of all parties, Germany's attack on France was officially launched, and the British and French Dunkirk evacuation plans were also officially carried out.

The so-called retreat plan was named "Operation Dynamo". The main purpose of this naming was to deceive others.

After all, if the name of the plan is the Dunkirk evacuation plan, wouldn't it be equivalent to telling the Germans all the main contents of the plan?

The British had actually been prepared for this major retreat.

If Germany's consecutive defeats of Poland and the Austrian Empire only allowed the British to see the strength of the German army, then Germany's encirclement and annihilation of more than 100,000 French troops on the frontal battlefield allowed the British to see the hardships and difficulties of the early war.

With such a premise, Britain is naturally not optimistic about the Belgian battlefield.

Although at the request of the ally France, more than 250,000 troops were transported to the French and Belgian regions.

But the British War Cabinet held an emergency meeting on the day Brussels, the capital of Belgium, was breached and formulated a plan for the rapid withdrawal of British troops in Belgium.

According to this plan, the British government will mobilize more than 800 transport ships within a week.

Every additional ship gave the British army in Belgium one more hope of survival.

On the frontal battlefield, the French army in Lille was unable to resist the German army's attack. How to evacuate more than 300,000 British and French troops from Dunkirk in a short period of time has become the biggest problem for Britain and France.

On June 30, the Dunkirk evacuation, codenamed "Operation Dynamo", officially began.

In order to create enough opportunities and time for Dunkirk, the French army on the front line of Lille launched a counterattack against the German army and used all means to entangle the German army.

On the first night of the operation, the British successfully evacuated approximately 1,100 people from Dunkirk.

Although it was only a small number compared with the British and French coalition forces stranded on the French-Belgian border, the smooth success of the retreat plan on the first day also gave Britain and France hope.

The next day, the Lille garrison launched a more violent attack on the German army.

I originally thought this would be a tough battle, but unexpectedly, there were problems within the German army.

It was the German Army Group B that captured Belgium and continued to attack France. This army group has a large number of armored troops and infantry, as well as a sufficient number of artillery.

However, during the attack on July 1, the armored troops led by German General Guderian did not cooperate with the infantry.

When questioned by the German infantry, Guderian gave the reason that he had not received any orders from the head of state and gave his armored units a two-day rest.

This also gave the French army an opportunity.

On the afternoon of July 1, a German infantry division that launched an attack rashly was surrounded by two French infantry divisions and a tank brigade. The two sides fought fiercely for a long time, and finally ended in the victory of the French army.

This was also the first time that the French army defeated the German division-level organization head-on when facing the German army.

The halt of the armored advance and the defeat of the infantry created enough opportunities for a retreat from Dunkirk.

Starting from the evening of July 1, a larger-scale retreat was in full swing, and more than 7,500 soldiers were successfully evacuated that day, which was seven times the number of the previous day.

On July 2, Guderian, who again received orders from the German government, launched his own armored forces.

The German army continued to launch attacks on the British and French forces in an attempt to eliminate the British and French forces in France.

Germany dispatched a large number of air forces to conduct air raids on Dunkirk and also bombed the Lille garrison.

However, because France had evacuated the people in these two cities in time, the German air raids only caused very small casualties to the army, and most of the artillery shells landed on the seaside or in open areas.

That evening the retreat was planned to continue.

In order to hide it from the Germans as much as possible, only about 4,000 people were evacuated on the third day of the retreat, and the furthest route was chosen.

No way, the Germans are not completely stupid.

In order to prepare for the possible retreat of Britain and France, the Germans deployed a large number of mines in the English Channel and also patrolled submarines.

On July 3, heavy fog suddenly filled the Dunkirk area. The bad weather directly prevented the Luftwaffe from bombing Dunkirk, and also helped the British and French evacuate their troops in such weather.

That night, the number of evacuated soldiers reached 17,800, setting a new high in a single day.

On July 5, the fighting at Lille and Dunkirk finally subsided a little because the Germans stopped attacking.

Why stop attacking? This is an unknown mystery for Britain and France.

But all German troops knew it in their hearts, because this was an order from the German government, issued by their trusted and loyal prime minister.

Since it was an order issued by the Prime Minister, the German army must obey it unconditionally.

Because of this, even though he knew that Lille was in danger and that it would only take a few days to break through Lille, Guderian still chose to stop the attack and wait for further orders from the Prime Minister.

Why did the German Prime Minister order the army to stop the attack?

When the German army was in excellent condition and the offensive was going smoothly, such an order seemed very brainless, even as if a prime minister who did not understand military affairs acted arbitrarily and interfered with military command.

But if we turn our perspective back to Germany, we will understand why the German Prime Minister issued such an order.

Considering the overall situation, although the situation of the German army is excellent at this time, the consumption of weapons and equipment is unprecedented.

Especially the armored forces, although they advanced very quickly, Britain and France could not let the German army advance in vain.

The attrition of those armored units, the beating of any number, was heartbreaking for the German government.

You know, Germany currently has only two allies, namely Italy and island countries.

The resources of the island country itself are very poor. Coupled with the fact that they are thousands of miles away, it is naturally impossible to help Germany in terms of materials.

The only country that might be able to help Germany is Italy. However, Italy itself is not rich in mineral resources, and Germany's domestic mineral reserves are even more abundant than those in Italy.

Under such circumstances, the German government had to face the significant impact of a large-scale war and a comprehensive shortage of supplies.

Under such circumstances, if there is a way to save part of the material consumption and preserve the strength of the armored forces, then it will naturally attract the attention of the German government.

You know, the actions of armored forces are extremely dependent on oil. Without petroleum energy, no matter how many armored forces there are, they will be nothing more than a pile of scrap metal.

Under such circumstances, Air Force Commander Göring, who was hand-picked by the German Prime Minister, put forward his opinion to the Prime Minister, that is, the Air Force took over the Dunkirk battlefield and withdrew most of the armored forces.

What is Goering's basis for this?

The terrain of Dunkirk is full of swamps and low-lying areas. This terrain is not suitable for armored forces, which is why the offensive was blocked when it reached the French area.

But such terrain has no impact on the air force. The air force can continue to pose a threat to the British and French troops on the Dunkirk and Lille lines, and help the army occupy these areas.

If you don't look at it from God's perspective, there is nothing wrong with such a decision.

After all, in terms of its heritage and national strength, Germany has no strength at all to compete with Britain and France.

In fact, it is impossible to say who is right and who is wrong in the choice made by the German Prime Minister.

But history is such a coincidence. But at this time, the British and French armies have reached the most critical moment. Even the French garrison in Lille has reached a critical moment of life and death and cannot hold on for a few days.

If the armored forces are not withdrawn, although they may suffer greater losses, they are very likely to complete their offensive as planned and prevent the British and French troops from retreating from Dunkirk.

However, the Germans withdrew their armored troops, which also completely relieved the British and French forces on the entire defense line.

Although the Air Force was bombing Dunkirk all the time, such bombing was destined to be impossible to maintain throughout the day, and there was still a certain amount of relaxation time at night.

Among the opportunities created by the Germans themselves for Britain and France, Britain and France lived up to expectations, evacuating an average of more than 45,000 people per day, and nearly 140,000 people were evacuated in a total of three days.

In summer, the air humidity in Dunkirk is relatively high. The high humidity produced a hazy fog that enveloped not only the entire beach, but also the small port city.

If it is an armored force, the impact of heavy fog can actually be ignored. But it happened that the Air Force was responsible for assisting the Army at this time, and the Air Force was the army severely affected by the fog.

In foggy weather, it is difficult for the Air Force to successfully complete the combat plan, and even casualties due to foggy weather are inevitable.

In such weather, the Luftwaffe naturally canceled the operation and gave Britain the greatest chance.

On July 9, due to heavy fog, nearly 57,000 people were evacuated throughout the day, setting a new evacuation record.

Although there were also thousands of casualties caused by the unfortunate bombings of German planes, it was nothing compared to the number of people evacuated.

But it also represents an exposure of Britain's evacuation operations. The British and French coalition forces within the defense line were greatly reduced, and the German army naturally felt that something was wrong.

As of July 9, it only took the British and French coalition forces 10 days to evacuate more than 220,000 troops. Such data is extremely exaggerated.

Although the German army discovered the British and French actions, the evacuation operation was nearing completion at this time, and the German army could no longer stop the general trend.

On July 10, the reacting German Air Force and the British and French Air Forces engaged in a fierce battle in the sky over Dunkirk.

German Air Force Commander Goering was very angry at this time. He boasted to the Prime Minister at that time, vowing that he could complete the attack on Dunkirk and eliminate the 400,000 British and French coalition forces using only the air force.

But the current reality gave Göring a loud slap in the face. Britain and France evacuated most of their troops under his nose. Even if the air force could help the army occupy Dunkirk, Britain and France would only lose two cities without a population. The military casualties were actually not large.

Thinking of the prime minister's angry eyes, Goering couldn't help but shudder, and quickly ordered the air force to launch a full-scale attack at Dunkirk to prevent the retreat of the British and French forces.

At least there are still close to 200,000 British and French troops on the line from Dunkirk to Lille. These troops will certainly not allow them to escape to the UK.

If all these troops were allowed to escape, I am afraid that Goering's position as commander of the German Air Force would not be stable.

Under the order of the angry Air Marshal Göring, the German Air Force was almost in full force, dispatching more than 1,800 aircraft, and launched a fierce battle with 1,500 aircraft composed of the British and French coalition forces.

In order to protect the evacuation of the fleet, the British and French air forces were actually fighting distractedly.

This also led to the Germans taking the advantage in the frontal battle of the air force and winning the air battle. They shot down at least 200 British and French aircraft, sunk more than 21 large ships, and severely damaged at least seven British destroyers. Thousands of people died directly in the sea.

The retreat on this day encountered unparalleled resistance. A total of 46,000 British and French soldiers boarded the ship, but less than half of them ultimately fled to Britain. To be precise, only about 21,000 people escaped.

I’ll just update it today and take a break.